PB County men sent to prison for housing fraud, used money for Dubai vacations

Two Palm Beach County men who ran a Delray Beach loan modification business were sentenced Thursday to seven years in federal prison for defrauding thousands of homeowners nationwide and using their money to vacation in Dubai and the South of France.

Christopher Godfrey, 44, of Delray Beach and Dennis Fischer, 42, of Highland Beach, bilked $4 million from struggling homeowners in a loan modification business they called Home Owners Protection Economics, Inc., or HOPE, according to the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The men were convicted Nov. 14 following a two-week trial in Massachusetts on one count of conspiracy and eight counts of wire fraud, eight counts of mail fraud, and one count of misusing a government seal.

A Florida attorney general’s complaint against the men was settled last year for $59,000.

They were accused of taking between $400 and $2,000 in fees from homeowners to apply for government programs that offer free applications, and then doing little to no work on the homeowners’ behalf.

It was learned at trial that Godfrey and Fischer used the homeowner money to pay for pricey vacations, shopping trips, their own mortgage payments and pool service.

“Godfrey and Fischer taunted victims with messages such as ‘Congratulations, you’ve been approved!’ and made empty money-back guarantees,” said Christy Romero, special inspector general for TARP. “They swindled homeowners out of $4 million, which they used for extravagant trips to Dubai and France, luxury shopping sprees, and to pay their own mortgages on waterfront homes.”

Palm Beach County court records show Godfrey owned a Delray Beach home that he bought in 2005 for $1.14 million. A $1.39 million foreclosure judgment was entered against the Intracoastal Waterway home in August. It sold at auction in November for $510,400.

Fischer is listed as the owner of an oceanfront Highland Beach townhome he purchased in 2007 for $612,500.

In federal court records, Godfrey said he and Fischer “naively started their loan modification business believing banks would act in good faith to help homeowners.”

When Florida lawmakers made it illegal for non-lawyers to charge upfront fees for loan modifications, Godfrey and Fischer went into business with another man who said he had developed a proprietary software program to complete loan modification applications.

The telemarketers are the ones who made false claims to consumers about guaranteed success, Godfrey said. The men who Godfrey said were in charge of the telemarketers, Vernell Burris, of Boynton Beach, and Brian Kelly, of Boca Raton, pleaded guilty in the case . They are scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 25.